1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus and a printing control method configured to execute processing for charging a fee for a job.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional job management system manages a job log acquired by counting the fee for a job, such as a print job, a scan job, or a facsimile transmission job. In the job management system, a user can designate information about a charging destination used for counting the actual fee in executing a job. Furthermore, such a job management system can designate a user or a user group (a group to which the user belongs) that is a target of counting the number of pages processed in a job. The target of counting (a group to which the user belongs, for example) and the information about the charging destination may not always match each other.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-362015 discusses a method for easily charging a distribution destination for a print product when a print request source and the distribution destination of a resulting print product differ from each other. The method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-362015 enables a print requesting user to designate a charging destination. The method allows the print requesting user to change information about the print requesting user, who is a target of charging of a job included in a print history (job log) after the requested printing has been completed, into information about a print product distribution destination, according to the authority of the print requesting user.
Generally, the charging destination information is previously set for a job as job information. After the job has been completed, the charging destination information is stored as a job log. The charging destination information is the data designated by a user and is stored in the job log as described above. The job log includes the other data stored as a result of executing a job. The data may include a document name, a print user name (a print requesting user name), the number of pages to be printed, color mode, designation on two-sided/one-sided printing, aggregate print, paper size, printing date and time, and paper type in the case of a print job by way of example. A user cannot change or delete the other data stored as a result of executing a job.
In using the charging destination information described above, it may be necessary that the job management system includes a user interface (UI) to allow the user to enter and designate a parameter value thereon. In a conventional method, a user can enter a parameter value via a UI of a printer driver.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-252709 discusses a method for verifying a setting value for charging each group, which is set for a print job, before transmitting a print job from a client apparatus to a printing apparatus. The method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-252709 displays a UI that displays a warning message to a user and enables the user to enter a setting value thereon if it is determined that the setting value for charging each group set for a print job does not match the setting value managed on the printing apparatus.
However, the charging destination information is input after generating a print job and before transmitting the print job to the printing apparatus. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide an input screen according to the client environment. In this regard, client apparatuses may use various different operating systems (OSs). Accordingly, development costs for providing a client environment according to each platform may become very high. Moreover, if a designation method uniquely set for each platform is used in each client environment, a job that has been generated without using the designation method may be transmitted to a printing apparatus or a printing control apparatus such as a print server.